They Are Gutting a Body of Water
shoegaze at the ICA (13th Feb 2026)
Intro
West Philly shoegaze band They Are Gutting a Body of Water arrived in the UK to tour their well-received album Lotto
After sharing some bands I like with a colleague, he mentioned them, and I liked their sound. Luckily, a gig was imminent, and conveniently timed for me, so I booked it on the strength of a promising first listen. I did something I haven’t done in a long time, but wish I did more often - experience the band live rather than go into the gig with an encyclopaedic knowledge of their back catalogue. It’s a double-edged approach - sometimes elements of their sound and songs reveal themselves beautifully on stage, but you may also lose the impact of a deep cut if you’re not too familiar with their output. I chose wisely in this instance, I think.
Venue
The venue was the ICA - Institute for Contemporary Arts, in the King’s front yard (The Mall). I’d been to the venue once before for the inaugural Four Tet/Squidsoup collaboration in 2016, although the one gig I wish I had been at was the 1984 performance by German industrial group Einstürzende Neubauten who started drilling and jackhammering through the stage mid-performance!
Journey
My first dilemma was getting there. I had driven to the office in Chelsea, and whilst there was a straight bus, I thought it would be nice to drive directly home after. I set my directions to Waterloo, with another map showing walking distance to the ICA so if I passed a convenient spot en route, I could stop there. I normally always travel in by public unless I’m working (and flitting between various sites and offices with an inordinate amount of equipment) and this reinforced why. Eventually I found a spot on a side street beyond the IMAX and a solid 25 minute walk! Fortunately I had enough of a time buffer to pull off my classic ‘Justin’ (just-in-time).
The Stage Set-up
The band were playing in the round, and it was quite intimate - perhaps a couple of hundred people and despite arriving once the venue was packed (sold out), I found a few good spots. I like the concept of the round. More people feel connected, but if you’re committed to one spot, you do lose some effect by only seeing the side or back of one or two members
Gig gripe #4: In a tightly packed space, don’t bring your bag! and certainly don’t wear the damn rucksack throughout the gig!! Cloakrooms exist and for the sake of our comfort, use them!
Gig gripe #1: You’ve got a good spot and are absorbed in the music. Someone squiggles their way in front of you, with a bag, talks, and sways. We don’t need to hear your inane chatter throughout, and pick a spot so that you don’t compromise the view of several people behind you. Fortunately few were talking during this gig, perhaps mesmerised by the music, or with it being a niche band, seasoned gig-goers committed to indulging themselves in the spectacle and saving the chat for the bar after.
The performance
I was digging the band’s sound. To me, it was most reminiscent of Slint’s seminal Spiderland. The lead Douglas Dulgarian would occasionally say a word or two between songs. He referenced his guitar being out of tune and how that is quite on point for shoegaze. In those situations, it’s not uncommon for someone in the crowd to holler back something, although I refrain unless I have something undeniably witty worthy of sharing.
The stage was slightly elevated, and whilst I wasn’t looking over a sea of heads (more of a puddle), I felt like what I was hearing was coming from more than 4 musicians, especially as one guitarist was playing percussion when I was trying to distinguish who was contributing what to the overall noise.
I’m always wowed by the proficiency of such groups. They choose a niche and work away at it, but even with the greatest acclaim from critics and fans alike, their target audience is quite small. So it’s nice to see that they got a level of recognition last night - an attentive crowd, a great setting and a sold-out gig.
The band played for an hour, captivating the crowd throughout. Whilst this is their 4th album, the first was self-released, and this is perhaps the first one they’ve got wider recognition for. They played the George Tavern last summer (first UK gig) and have a few dates across the UK and Europe on this tour, but this certainly would’ve been a highlight for them given the venue’s prestige. Initially there was only one night planned, but as that sold out, another date appeared, which eventually sold out on the day.
Something my mind wanders to inevitably at every show is the total revenue and how much the band get. Touring costs are considerable when abroad, and they only get to tour so often (plus it must be EXHAUSTING mentally and physically to travel that much and play so often!). We’ve reached a point, especially with the effects of Brexit, where it’s no longer economical to tour for some acts in some places, although overall exposure, fan connection and merch may help justify putting a show on.
A cheat I often use is to check setlistfm for a recent gig to second guess the setlist for that night. Some bands slavishly stick to the same set in the same order, or with minor variations. Two schools of thought - a few friends prefer the suspense and surprise. I often prefer to be informed and prepared. It does amaze me that dedicated people recognise and archive the tracks for posterity, and I’m glad there’s one unified database (although the 1600+ cookie partners does annoy me), however I’ve never seen anyone in a crowd note down tracks. A group that gets heavily criticised is those that use their phone too much. Normally I agree, especially those who illuminate their phone torch during the video, having no effect on the professionally lit stage 40 feet away but bathing those around them in light (gig gripe #6), but I do love those who archive live rock by recording and uploading full tracks for us all to enjoy, whether we were there or not.
For part of the gig, I was stood in front of the sound desk, and at one point a kid walked over to them and asked them to turn the singer’s mic up! Whilst it was barely audible, that’s a deliberate effect. This has got to be the live music equivalent of asking a techno DJ to spin an old ABBA classic during their set.
Merch
As the band said their goodbyes, I scurried off to the cloakroom queue, smug with my quick escape to beat the queue. But as I exited, I noticed the new album was on the merch table, and only £20. Just like every release these days, there’s an insufferable number of variants, often limited and overpriced. Six in this album’s case. It’s what killed a 30 year hobby for me. However this version was adequate for my needs so I joined the long and slow-moving queue to grab one. Smugness duly wiped
Post gig
I took the scenic route back to my car, checking the bus options to Chelsea to confirm if I had made the right choice or not. There was a long wait for a bus, so in this instance it was approximately the same. I played the album on the walk to the car, and with it only being 27 minutes long, I breezed through the whole thing before getting back to it (with inevitable detours via the shops etc). The only benefit of driving was that I was committed to sobriety. It meant that my night out came in at under £50 for ticket, cloakroom and the LP, and I didn’t end up with a sore head or full bladder. I saw a few guys return from the bar with two beers in hand - that’s about £13-15 for you and your mate, and you’ll be doing that 2-3 times each at least over the course of the night.
It was the first gig of the year for me. It used to be my most attended type of event, but here we are 1/8th of the year in and I’m just getting off the mark. It’s another 3 months until my next one, but I’ll be keeping myself busy with other bookings.